There are many applications where the current elastomers available do not provide the required properties. Typical elastomers available from companies such as General Electric, Dow Chemical, and Shell Chemical, have densities below one gram per cubic centimeter, durometers from 5 to over 100 shore A, a wide range of tear resistance, and elongation percentages from 10 to over 2,000. All these properties are interrelated so that it is difficult or impossible to select a given combination of properties, or to have more than one property in different directions.
A few elastomer composites have been produced in the past, mostly with thermoset polymers. For example, silicon rubber has been used as switch contacts with the addition of graphite to carry current. Metal shot has also been mixed in polymers. The polymers tend to break or shear away from the metal shot during elastic deformation. These materials also tend to lose their shape after deformation. The present invention solves this and other problems associated with this and prior art compositions.
This invention provides the designer the ability to tailor the material for a given application and makes it possible to have different combinations of properties than those provided by current unreinforced elastomers.